Many surveillance cameras today are capable of movement in one or more directions, increasing the entire field of view available to the camera. A single surveillance camera is thus able to monitor a larger observable area than would be possible for a stationary surveillance camera.
Within the physical area observed by the surveillance camera, particular “regions of interest” may be selected. The surveillance cameras provide additional video processing to images corresponding with a region of interest. One common video processing technique utilized in surveillance cameras is motion detection. For instance, many surveillance cameras, although capable of viewing larger areas, are concerned with motion detected in one area (e.g., a doorway). By defining regions of interest, surveillance systems are prevented from processing unnecessary video data not corresponding to a region of interest.
In the prior art, a mapped region of interest is defined within the camera's field of view such that it is coextensive with the region of interest (i.e., the image of the region of interest as seen by the surveillance camera). For instance, a mapped region of interest is designated by denoting a rectangle on a monitor displaying the current view of a camera. The area within the rectangle is the mapped region of interest. The mapped region of interest in the prior art is fixed with respect to the camera, therefore any movement of the surveillance camera results in a disconnect between the region of interest and the mapped region of interest, resulting in additional video processing being provided to an undesired area (i.e., not the region of interest).